by Betsy Haynes
"The Fabulous Five is a self-improvement club," I explained as I handed out glasses of instant iced tea. "We meet once a week to try to figure out ways to become the most gorgeous and most popular girls in Mark Twain Elementary."
Mona's face turned red and she looked down into her lap. Eek! I thought. Have I said the wrong thing already?
"We have a lot of fun, too," I added quickly. Then I looked at each of my friends, hoping one of them would rescue me by taking over the conversation. Beth got my message.
"Today we're going to work on hair. You know, give each other new styles and things." Then, in an extraloud voice, she said to me, "Do you have the shampoo and towels out yet, Jana?"
Of course I didn't, since I didn't know she was going to say that. I jumped up and ran first to the linen closet to get towels and then to the bathroom to get shampoo and conditioner. While I was in the bathroom, Beth yelled, "And don't forget the blow dryer, the curling iron, and your mother's hot curlers." I grabbed those, too, and hurried back to the kitchen.
A few minutes later we had all washed our hair and were standing by the sink with our heads wrapped in towels, Mona included, deciding what to do next.
"I think we should work on Mona's hair first," announced Katie.
Mona's eyes widened, and I could see her Adam's apple bob as she tried to swallow down a lump in her throat.
"That's a good idea," I said before she could protest. "We've all done each other's hair tons of times. It will be fun to work on somebody new. Besides," I added brightly, "you're our guest."
"Sit down here the table," said Beth, pulling out a chair for Mona.
Mona perched gingerly on the edge of the chair, and I put Mom's makeup mirror in front of her.
"Now," I said with satisfaction. "It's just like the beauty parlor at Tanninger's."
Mona laughed along with the rest of us and scooted back into her chair. She seemed to be losing her shyness and was starting to join in.
"I get to do the styling," Christie announced, racing up behind Mona and whisking the towel off her hair. "Don't forget. My aunt Helen is a beautician, and the ability to style hair runs in our family."
"How could we forget?" I muttered. I was thinking about the other time Christie had said that. It was right after Taffy Sinclair and I found baby Ashley, and Christie and my other friends gave me a haircut that was a total disaster.
She must have read my mind. "I'm not going to cut," she said as she stabbed the air with a hairbrush to emphasize her meaning. "Just style."
This time, Mona actually giggled. She was having fun. This might work out all right, after all, I thought.
Christie began drying Mona's hair while the rest of us stood around in our bath-towel turbans discussing how it should be styled. When it was dry, Christie brushed it first one way and then another as we swarmed around, suggesting ideas and trying them out. Through it all, Mona sat as still as a mouse, her eyes rolling expectantly from one of us to another.
What we finally decided was that she needed a perm and a cut. Since that was out of the question, we rolled her thick bangs away from her face on Mom's hot curlers. Then we used the curling iron to put soft waves into the rest of her hair.
"Close your eyes, Mona!" Beth said gleefully. "It's time for the grand finale."
Obediently, Mona closed her eyes. She was smiling, too, and it was plain to see that she was getting excited.
Katie started to pull the hot curlers out of her hair.
"Wait," I said. "I have another idea."
I raced to my room and came back with my blush and lip gloss. I patted just a touch of blush on Mona's cheeks and added pale pink gloss to her lips. "There," I said with satisfaction. "Go ahead and comb her out."
Christie brushed out the roller marks and fluffed out the sides. Then she smoothed the top and arranged two wispy curls on Mona's forehead. The rest of us had gotten quiet. It was incredible. Mona's appearance was changing before our eyes.
"Okay," said Christie. "You can look now."
Mona opened her eyes, which we could see were a striking shade of violet now that they weren't hidden by thick bangs, and the blush and lip gloss added a rosy glow to her creamy skin. She took one look at herself and drew in her breath. Then a slow smile spread over her face as she stared at her reflection through misty eyes.
She didn't make a sound. She didn't have to. We all knew how she must feel. She wasn't beautiful like Taffy Sinclair or Laura MacLeod, but she wasn't homely like the old Mona, either. She was pretty. The new Mona Vaughn was actually pretty! I was so happy for her, I thought I'd die.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
It was getting late by then, so we mostly just dried our hair and styled it the same old way, although Beth did take Mona's suggestion that she part her hair on the opposite side. It really looked good like that. Then Christie gave Mona detailed instructions on how to curl her hair for school the next day.
"Why don't we get together again tomorrow afternoon? We can meet at my house," Katie said, and she was looking right at Mona when she said it. "We have to practice some things we're learning in modeling class," she explained.
Mona blushed. "Modeling class?" she whispered.
"Yes, but don't let it fool you. I wouldn't be caught DEAD being a model," Katie assured her. "We're learning a lot of things that are useful every day, like how to walk across a room when everybody is looking at you and you feel like an idiot. We could show you, if you want to come. Then you could practice with us."
Mona's face brightened. "Gosh, that would be fun."
Everybody went home right after that, and I collapsed on the sofa thinking that things were working out all right with Mona after all. I felt a stab of guilt as I thought about what a nice person she was. We had always known that, but if it hadn't been for Taffy Sinclair's stealing Melanie away from us, we might never have gone to the trouble to make friends with her.
My friends and I were waiting for Taffy and Melanie the next morning. Mona had come to school with her hair curled and her violet eyes sparkling, and we had called her over to stand with us in our special spot. Of course we didn't tell her that we could hardly wait to show her off. She might not have understood.
Lots of kids noticed Mona's new look. We could tell by the way they were staring at her. She noticed them looking at her, too, and dropped her eyes each time it happened.
Finally the moment we had been waiting for arrived. Taffy and Melanie came strutting onto the school ground as if they owned the world. Their arms were linked, and they were chattering away. Suddenly Taffy's gaze brushed over Mona and then backed up as total surprise registered on her face. Her mouth dropped open, and she stopped dead still in her tracks.
She looked so stunned that I wanted to laugh, but instead, I flashed a big smile in her direction and said, "Hi, Taffy. Is something wrong?"
My friends were trying to keep from laughing, too, but they joined right in saying hi to Taffy the same as I did. Only Mona didn't speak.
By then Taffy had recovered from her shock. "Of course not," she insisted. "What could be wrong?" Then tilting her head and giving us a superior look, she said, "Melanie and I are going to a photographer after school to have pictures made for our modeling portfolios. My mother talked to Laura yesterday, and she thinks the two of us are ready to get modeling jobs."
"Oh, yeah?" I said. "I'll bet!"
"It's true," said Taffy, stamping her foot and glaring at me. "My uncle is the photographer, and he takes portfolio pictures of lots of famous models. Of course, YOU probably haven't heard of any of them. He's going to take at least a dozen pictures of us in different modeling poses, and my mother has already got each of us a regular portfolio to put them in that is made of real leather. Then, as soon as we get our pictures back, we're going to fix up our portfolios and take them around to Tanninger's and lots of other department stores. Just wait. You'll believe me when you see our pictures in the Bridgeport Post!"
I glared right back at her. I knew that sh
e was probably telling the truth, but I didn't want to let her off the hook that easily. "Big deal!" I said, spitting out the words.
"It is a big deal," Taffy countered. "Isn't it, Melanie?"
I looked at Melanie for the first time since the two of them had stopped to talk to us. She had a funny expression on her face, and I could tell that she wasn't listening to what Taffy was saying. Her eyes were darting from one of us to another, stopping every so often to rest on Mona. Suddenly I knew what she was thinking. She was wondering if Mona had replaced her in The Fabulous Five!
I hadn't actually thought about that myself. If we started hanging around with Mona all the time, would she expect to be invited to join our club? And what would we do if Melanie came to her senses and wanted to be our friend again? You couldn't have six people in The Fabulous Five.
I knew I had to talk the situation over with Katie and Beth and Christie, and I couldn't do it when Mona was around. I didn't get a chance to signal my three friends that I had something important to talk about because the bell rang right after Taffy and Melanie walked away. I also couldn't help noticing that Melanie looked back over her shoulder at us a couple of times. I didn't get a chance to talk to my friends at morning recess, either. Mona came along and stood with us by the fence. By lunchtime I was getting frantic. I had to talk to them before the situation got out of hand, and it was too late.
"I have to get something out of my locker. I'll meet you on the playground in a few minutes," Mona said as we were getting ready to leave the cafeteria. I couldn't believe it. She had saved my life. I was going to get to talk to my friends in private, after all.
"Sure, Mona," I said. "Come on, guys. Let's stop in the girls' bathroom before we go outside."
I guess they could tell by the sound of my voice that I had something urgent to say, because they hurried after me without any arguments. Once we were in the hall and away from Mona, I told them what I had been worrying about.
"Gosh. You're right," said Christie. "We were so busy trying to get even with Taffy that we forgot everything else."
"What are we going to DO?" I implored. "We can't just drop Mona. Do you realize how badly her feelings would be hurt after the way we've started treating her? Besides, she's awfully nice. I really like her a lot."
"So do I," said Beth. "If you ask me, we should drop Melanie and ask Mona to join The Fabulous Five. Melanie is acting like such a jerk. And if she and Taffy really do get modeling jobs, she won't want to be friends with us anymore, anyway."
"You're right," said Katie. "Some friend Melanie's turned out to be. She and Taffy Sinclair deserve each other."
We had reached the girls' bathroom, and I pushed the door open and led the way in. I should have known. Taffy Sinclair was standing in front of the mirror, as usual, and she was dabbing her mouth with a paper towel again. I was tempted to tell her that she was the most conceited person in the whole world, but I noticed that she got a look of panic on her face when she saw my friends and me come in. Just then I heard a familiar retching sound, and someone in one of the stalls began to throw up.
"Melanie!" I shrieked. "Is that you? Are you okay?"
The sound of the toilet flushing almost drowned me out, and Katie and Christie and Beth all began talking at once.
"What's going on?"
"Is Melanie sick?"
"Where did Taffy go?"
I spun around to see the bathroom door closing. Taffy was gone. Vanished. An instant later Melanie came out of the stall. I frowned as I looked at her. I had never seen her looking so pale.
Nobody said a word. We just stared at her as she went to the lavatory and washed her face. Then she cupped her hands and got a drink of water, which she sloshed around in her mouth and spit into the sink. Only then did she meet our eyes.
"It's a model's trick," she said apologetically. "Taffy told me about it. She does it all the time. You can eat anything you want if you throw it up as soon as you eat it. You just stick your finger down your throat and it comes back up."
We must have had shocked looks on our faces because she stopped talking for a minute and looked at each of us.
"That's why you were throwing up before, isn't it?" I asked accusingly. "The day you said you were allergic to cheese."
Melanie nodded.
"And Saturday, when you fainted," I went on, "it was because you were too weak to do the exercises, wasn't it?"
She nodded again, and this time tears filled her eyes.
"Don't you know that what you're doing is dangerous?" shouted Katie. "If you do that too much, you might not be able to stop. That has happened to some girls. Some girls have even died."
Melanie shrugged and took a step toward the door. "But Taffy said . . ." Suddenly her knees buckled and she grabbed the sink to keep from falling.
My friends and I rushed to help her. "Come on," I said. "We're taking you to the school nurse."
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Melanie did not come back to class in the afternoon, and we were sure the school nurse had called her mother to take her home. As for Taffy, she kept her eyes down on her schoolwork for the rest of the day. She didn't try to butter up Wiggins or flirt with Randy or anything, and she didn't show up on the playground at afternoon recess, either.
I couldn't remember when I had been so mad at Taffy Sinclair. I knew she wasn't really going through with that awful diet "trick" herself, no matter what she said to Melanie. She was pulling a trick, though. She was tricking Melanie into thinking she needed Taffy instead of Laura or anybody else in order to be thin and become a model. I couldn't let her get away with a thing like that.
My friends and I had made a promise to Mona that we would teach her the things we were learning at modeling school at Katie's house after school, and we kept it. As usual, she was shy at first, but she started giggling when we told her all the things she would have to do to walk across a room.
"Hold your head up," I began. "Keep your shoulders low, and pull your tummy in."
As soon as she did that, Beth added, "Now relax your arms and let them hang by your sides. Then take a deep breath."
Everyone was giggling by now as Mona took a deep breath, swelling up her chest and looking as if she might explode.
"You can let it out, silly," Christie said with a laugh. "Now walk in small, even steps, always stepping out on your right foot first and putting down your heel and then your toe."
Mona exhaled and then lifted her right foot into the air.
"Wait!" shrieked Katie. "We forgot to tell you to look at the spot you're walking toward first. You'll have to start all over."
With that, we all began laughing so hard that we could barely stand up. After a while, Mona was walking as well as the rest of us, and pretty soon we all got into the act, practicing going back and forth across Katie's game room until we started to get silly again.
Suddenly Mona looked at her watch and announced that she had to leave. "There's something I always do on Tuesday afternoons," she said. She was acting shy again, so nobody asked her what it was.
After she left, Christie brought up the subject that had been on my mind. "I think that Melanie has probably learned her lesson about Taffy Sinclair. So what will we do about Mona if Melanie wants to come back in The Fabulous Five?"
"Mona's nice," I said wistfully, "but she's not the same as Melanie. Melanie has been our friend forever."
"I'm not sure that Mona would fit in, anyway," said Beth. "She's awfully shy."
"You can say that again," said Christie. "And a little immature."
"Speaking of immature," said Katie, "I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw into her locker yesterday. There was a bottle of bubble stuff sitting on the shelf. You know, the stuff that looks like dishwashing liquid that you dip a wand into and blow bubbles into the air."
"You're kidding!" said Beth. "I haven't played with anything like that since I was four!"
We got quiet after that. Nobody knew what else to say. We all liked Mona, even if she was
shy and a little immature. But the truth was, Melanie was a super friend and we all wanted her back in The Fabulous Five.
"I know what," I said. "Let's go to the Double Dip for a big fat ice cream cone. Our diets aren't working, anyway, and we need more time to decide what to do."
Everybody thought that was a great idea. We grabbed our coats and raced the four blocks to the Dip, as most kids called the ice cream store.
After we'd gotten our cones and found a booth and were almost finished eating them, I just happened to look out the window toward the building across the street. It was the local animal shelter, where people took stray dogs and cats or where they dumped animals they didn't want anymore.
"Look," I said. "That's Mona coming out of the animal shelter. Do you suppose she wants to adopt a pet?"
"Let's go ask her," said Christie.
We jumped up and hurried outside, calling to Mona to wait for us.
"What were you doing in there?" I asked breathlessly when we got to the other side of the street. "Are you going to get a new dog or cat?"
Mona looked at us for a moment and then shook her head. "No," she said softly. "I was just visiting."
"Visiting?" asked Beth. "What for?"
Sighing, Mona explained, "I feel sorry for all the animals who can't find homes. I know they'll be put to death. So I go in after school every Tuesday and Thursday to talk to them and play with them a little bit. I'm not allowed to take them out of their cages, so I save my allowance, and when I can, I buy this."
Mona opened her book bag and pulled out a plastic bottle of bubble liquid. I knew it was probably the same bottle Katie had seen in her locker the day before.
"I blow bubbles at them through the wire, and you should see how they act. The kittens and cats swat at them with their paws, and the puppies and older dogs mostly snap at them and then try to figure out where they've gone when they burst." Her eyes were shining as she talked about the animals, calling some of them by names she had obviously made up herself.